


Happier With You

by Deshayes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cancer, Character Death, Deathfic, F/M, M/M, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Tearjerker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 21:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deshayes/pseuds/Deshayes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek knew he would've been happier with Stiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happier With You

 

The wind blew gently through the cemetery, causing the leaves in the trees to flutter like the wings of a butterfly. It was a beautiful day, but it wasn’t beautiful enough to erase the sorrow that had taken residence in Derek Hale’s heart.

The alpha werewolf stood silently behind a tall oak tree with his eyes gazing intently at one of the headstones a few yards away. A man was kneeling down by the grave; Derek immediately recognized the man as the Sheriff of Beacon Hills, the man who had lost his only son seven months ago.

It was like a cold hand had suddenly gotten a hold of Derek’s heart as he let his thoughts wander back to the day about a year ago when he first heard the news of Stiles’ condition. It had been right after the alpha pack had finally been defeated for good. No one in Derek’s pack had had any idea that Stiles had been slowly dying on the inside. Hell, not even the boy himself had had any clue before he went to see a doctor because of the recurring pain in his stomach. After the cause had been discovered, nothing had been the same.

When Derek and the pack had found out that Stiles was suffering from stomach cancer, they’d been devastated. Scott had refused to believe it to be true. How could Stiles, who was so young, have cancer? And why hadn’t it been diagnosed much earlier? Why did they find out only now when there wasn’t anything to be done?

Scott had demanded Derek to give Stiles the bite. Surely, once Stiles became a werewolf, the cancer would be cured? As much as Derek had wished that to be the case, it just wasn’t an option. The bite would only kill Stiles faster. The cancer had weakened the boy too much; he wouldn’t be able to survive the strain the bite would put on his body. So both Scott and Derek had had to just watch helplessly as the cancer slowly took Stiles’ life.

The cancer had already spread to Stiles’ liver and pancreas and there were signs of it spreading to his lungs. The only thing the doctors had been able to do was try to ease Stiles’ pain and try to give him a little longer to live. Stomach cancer was a nasty disease as it usually didn’t produce noticeable symptoms in the early stages or the symptoms simply were too generic to relate only to cancer. That’s why Stiles’ cancer had been diagnosed too late.

Stiles himself had been in shock. He was only seventeen; no seventeen-year-old was supposed to be told that they wouldn’t live to see their eighteenth birthday.

After the shock came the denial. Stiles had refused to let the cancer dictate how he lived the rest of his now unusually short life. He had continued living like the cancer didn’t even exist, though it was not easy. The treatments hadn’t been able to get rid of all of the pain, and within a few months Stiles spent more time at the hospital than outside of it. After he had collapsed from the pain for the fourth time he had finally admitted that the cancer had won. He had resigned to his fate and stayed at the hospital where the doctors tried to make the rest of his life as painless as possible.

The Sheriff took it hard. First he had to lose his wife and now he would lose his son too? Watching Stiles fade away because of the cancer was something John Stilinski couldn’t take. But he had no choice. He needed to be strong for his son. He knew that Stiles was worried what would happen to his dad after the cancer would finish its job and the Sheriff hadn’t want to make Stiles worry even more by breaking down in front of him. So he had pretended to be strong. He had stayed by his son’s bed as the once lively boy became just a ghost of himself and when death finally claimed Stiles, the Sheriff had been there, holding his hand.

The last time Derek had felt such sorrow was when Kate Argent burned down his home, murdering his whole family, his pack, in the process. Derek had only survived the sorrow because of his older sister Laura. How was he supposed to survive losing Stiles?

Since the day Derek first met Stiles he had known there was something special about the boy. Whether it was the teenager’s fierce loyalty, his witty humor or his intelligence Derek didn’t know. But nevertheless, over the time Stiles had managed to get under Derek’s skin and before the alpha even noticed, he had grown to care for the boy deeply. However, Derek had refused to act on his feelings; he was almost ten years older than the teen. He had decided to wait until Stiles had grown a little, gone through college and seen the world before he would reveal his feelings.

Only he didn’t get the chance to do that. Stiles passed away on a cold fall morning, leaving people who loved him grieving. The last time Derek had seen Stiles alive was two days before. Stiles had been pale and it had been obvious how exhausted he was.

“You know, Derek, you turned out to be quite a good alpha after all,” he had teased, his voice weak and hoarse. Derek had known it was Stiles’ way of asking the alpha to take care of his friends, and Derek had made a silent vow to become the best damn alpha any werewolf pack had ever seen.

Derek watched as the Sheriff placed flowers on his son’s grave before turning away and leaving. Derek’s heart ached when he thought of the pain the Sheriff must have felt when Stiles died. The man had lost both his wife and son; how could life be so cruel to one person? Derek tried to find comfort in the fact that Scott’s mom, Melissa McCall, had taken it upon herself to look after the Sheriff. Maybe she would be able to ease the pain in the Sheriff’s heart.

Derek slowly approached the place where Stiles had been buried seven months ago. The grave was covered with flowers and Derek gently placed his own bundle of yellow and orange gerbera daisies on the grave.

 

_Here sleeps Genim ‘Stiles’ Stilinski_

_Beloved son and friend_

_8 th April 1995 – 14th October 2012_

A lone tear fell from the alpha’s eyes as he gazed mournfully at the headstone. A lump formed in his throat as he thought how different life would be if Stiles was still alive. For the umpteenth time Derek cursed the unfairness of life. Stiles wasn’t supposed to die that young; he should still be there, he should still be alive to give Derek a chance to love him and be happy with him.

A hand was gently placed on his shoulder as he kneeled by the grave. Silently Derek placed his own hand on the top Jennifer’s, accepting the comforting gesture from the woman.

“Do you want to stay a little longer?” she asked, and Derek could hear the sadness in her voice. The alpha cast one last look at the grave before standing up. He took her hand in his and started to walk back towards their car.

Derek knew that he could be happy with Jennifer; he was already starting to care for her deeply. But still, somewhere deep in his heart he knew he would’ve been happier with Stiles.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This plot idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to put it on paper. This is also an attempt to get my creative juices flowing once again. Hope you enjoyed!


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